flash help please!

[khoover213]

I received a promaster 7500 for Christmas and have been trying to figure out if it will remote trigger with my Canon 50D. It works fine on the hot shoe, but I would like to try out some off camera flash work. I have set the flash to slave mode and seem to understand that concept but cant seem to get my camera to accept it as the slave.

So I guess my question is, Does anyone use their flash off camera? and if so what setting should my camera be on it make that happen?

Thanks for any suggestions in advance!

 

[pgriz]

If your flash is configured as a slave, it needs a "master" to tell it what to do. In the Canon system, the master is either a flash like a 580EX, or a transmitter like the ST-E2. Alternatively, you can go to radio triggers (Cactus, Yongo, Pocket-wizards) which have a radio transmitter on the shotshoe which triggers a signal on a receiver into which the flash is placed. To get off-camera TTL you need either the Canon IR (infrared) system, or an expensive radio-controlled trigger. If you go to cheap triggers, then you have to learn to use the flash in manual mode. My personal opinion is that learning to use the off-camera flash in manual mode will give you much more flexibility and options. See the strobist site Strobist for lots of helpful info on off-camera manual flash.

If by off-camera you mean within one foot or so of the camera, then you can buy either Canon or third-party cables that will give you TTL control even if your flash is not in the camera's hot shoe. However, these won't reach much beyond a foot or so, and are designed to allow your camera to be mounted on a flash camera bracket.

 

[table1349]

You need something like this: Canon Speedlite 580EX II 1946B002 B&H Photo Video this: Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter or this: Interfit Strobies iSync 4 Wireless Transmitter/Receiver STR130

There are many makers of wireless transmitters. Pocketwizards are the industry standard and expensive with similar to what I posted being the other end and lots of choices in between.

Here is a good link to read on using the Canon flash system: Flash Photography with Canon EOS Cameras - Part I. Read all three sections.